Will had no idea how this would help, but he didn’t have time to ask, because Benny was raising a hand to gesture him over. Honestly it was difficult not to feel a little betrayed; he’d sort of thought he and Benny were becoming friends, what with the beer-drinking and cat-incentivizing.

Could be that he was overreacting, though. Maybe this lady and her companion photographer were doing some kind of story that had nothing to do with—

“Is this him?” the reporter asked, as soon as he approached.

Damn, he thought again, and pasted a smile on his face. “Hey there,” he said easily. “I’m Will. Big news day around here?”

The reporter—Yael, her name was—was a freelancer for a monthly community newspaper, the kind you picked up inside of restaurants or coffee shops if you wanted to know what neighborhood festival or concert series or museum exhibit you might be missing. You also picked them up, he was now finding out, if you wanted to read a heartwarming story about a close-knit group of neighbors who’d lived together for decades, constant over the course of years of change, stalwart even against the most recent tide of rising prices and building-wide renovations all around this block.

“We’ve only just gotten started, but of course we’d love to get the newcomer’s perspective, too!” Yael said. “Now as I understand it, despite inheriting your apartment from a family member—”

“I told her that,” said Jonah. “Hope you don’t mind.”

“It’s the facts,” said Will. “Where’s Nora?” Strangely, nothing about what he’d learned in the last five minutes had dulled his sense of anticipation about seeing her; if anything, it was only heightened. This had to be her doing. This had to be why she’d been avoiding him. A newspaper article.

This woman never ran out of ideas. Why’d he like that so much?

“She’ll be down,” said Marian, but Will thought there was something funny about the way she’d said it.

“We oughta get a picture,” said the photographer. “Light’s good at this hour. Golden.”

Will clenched his teeth.

“Oh, all right. Picture first, and then we can talk more?”

“Is Will going to be in the picture?” said Sally, who Will had forgotten about. “If so, he should have Quincy and Francis with him.”

“Who’re Quincy and Francis?” said Marian. “Who are you?”

Sally shifted the kitten hamper to one hip, stuck out her hand. “I’m Sally! I’m helping Will get his place ready for rental.”

“Golly, she’s tan,” Jonah said in a tone he maybe thought was a whisper.

Benny stifled a laugh, and Sally beamed.

“I just got back from vacation!” she said, seemingly delighted that he’d noticed.

“You want to be in the picture?” asked the photographer.

“Oh!” said Sally. And Will said, “We don’t need to be in the picture.”